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Biomedical subjects

I Townsend

Publications and source records attributed to I Townsend.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Evaluation of the molecular epidemiology of an outbreak of multiply resistant Shigella sonnei in a day-care center by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and plasmid DNA analysis.

Outbreaks of diarrhea in child day-care centers (DCC) are common. This study was undertaken to evaluate the molecular epidemiology of an outbreak of diarrhea due to Shigella sonnei. This outbreak involved 25 of 52 (48%) DCC children and 14 of 132 (11%) teachers and household contacts. S. sonnei isolates from nine children and five contacts were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility, plasmid content, plasmid DNA restriction fragment pattern, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of total genomic DNA; 33 isolates from Houston, Tex., Chicago, Ill., and Mexico City, Mexico, also were studied. All outbreak isolates were resistant to ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and shared five to six plasmids ranging from 3.3 to 70 MDa. A total of 8 of 12 temporally associated nonoutbreak Houston isolates had plasmid profiles and restriction fragment patterns similar to those of the outbreak strain, despite possessing different antibiotic susceptibility patterns. PFGE demonstrated identical DNA patterns among outbreak isolates and similar or identical patterns among temporally associated sporadic Houston isolates with plasmid profiles similar to that of the outbreak strain. All other nonoutbreak strains from Houston, Chicago, and Mexico had plasmid profiles, restriction fragment patterns, and PFGE patterns different from those of the outbreak strain. DCC outbreak isolates could be distinguished from most sporadic isolates by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, but plasmid analysis and PFGE could not differentiate common-source isolates from sporadic isolates in the same location during the same time period, indicating that isolates present in the community were genetically similar to those producing outbreaks in the DCC.

Child Day Care Centers↗
PubMed1982

Total parenteral nutrition therapy of toxic maple syrup urine disease.

Maple Syrup Urine Disease (branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase deficiency) in a neonate who was too ill to feed was successfully treated with total parenteral nutrition which promoted protein synthesis thereby allowing accumulated branched-chain amino acids to be incorporated into body protein. Total parenteral nutrition was initiated after the patient was unable to continue nasogastric feeding and peritoneal dialysis had failed due to the patient's hypotonia. A special total parenteral nutrition mixture lacking leucine, isoleucine, and valine was supplemented with Intralipid to provide an average of 125 kcal/kg/day. Nitrogen balance documented a normal nitrogen retention rate of 185 mg N/kg/day. The various branched-chain amino acids were added individually to the intravenous solution as the plasma concentration of each decreased. The intake of the branched-chain amino acids (isoleucine 65 mg/kg/day, valine 78 mg/kg/day, and leucine 159 mg/kg/day) was approximately two-thirds of that of the normal breast-fed infant, equivalent to the normal rate of incorporation of these essential amino acids into protein. Total parenteral nutrition achieves and sustains branched-chain amino acids removal efficiently with fewer risks than multiple exchange transfusions or peritoneal dialysis. A combination of total parenteral nutrition with one of these alternative modes of therapy may be most useful in the acutely toxic patient

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1980

The learning resources movement: its relationship to nurse education.

This paper addresses the place, position and potential of what is characterized as the 'Learning Resources Movement' in nurse education. It is based on experiences drawn from 10 years viewing resource use in general and nursing education, and, more recently, on observations arising from a research project looking at the growth within the school of nursing, of organizational structures for their development. It claims that the true potential of the movement has nowhere been fully realized. It sees the present position as indeterminate and misconceived. It claims that further development of such resources as are and will be available is intricately tied up with the professional development of nursing in a 'chicken-and-egg' situation. It argues that the stage has now been reached where the successful development of the one cannot proceed without the successful development of the other. Drawing on a fairy-tale analogy the paper views the Learning Resources Movement as a powerful tool for seeing through the shining surfaces of what to many are new curricular clothes and dealing with the basic truths of the situation underneath.

Audiovisual Aids↗
PubMed1979

The audio-visual revolution: do we really need it?

In the United Kingdom, The audio-visual revolution has steadily gained converts in the nursing profession. Nurse tutor courses now contain information on the techniques of educational technology and schools of nursing increasingly own (or wish to own) many of the sophisticated electronic aids to teaching that abound. This is taking place at a time of hitherto inexperienced crisis and change. Funds have been or are being made available to buy audio-visual equipment. But its purchase and use relies on satisfying personal whim, prejudice or educational fashion, not on considerations of educational efficiency. In the rush of enthusiasm, the overwhelmed teacher (everywhere; the phenomenon is not confined to nursing) forgets to ask the searching, critical questions: 'Why should we use this aid?','How effective is it?','And, at what?'. Influential writers in this profession have repeatedly called for a more responsible attitude towards published research work of other fields. In an attempt to discover what is known about the answers to this group of questions, an eclectic look at media research is taken and the widespread dissatisfaction existing amongst international educational technologists is noted. The paper isolates out of the literature several causative factors responsible for the present state of affairs. Findings from the field of educational television are cited as representative of an aid which has had a considerable amount of time and research directed at it. The concluding part of the paper shows the decisions to be taken in using or not using educational media as being more complicated than might at first appear.

Audiovisual Aids↗